He may have closed with a one-over 72 on Sunday; he may have missed out on winning the tournament; he may have dropped two places to 11th on the Korn Ferry Tour rankings, but MJ Daffue sealed his card for the PGA Tour next season with a share of 12th in the Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha, Nebraska.
It was the culmination of a stellar season on the Korn Ferry Tour, and validation for the old-fashioned qualities of perseverance and hard work which gave him six top-10 finishes on the tour, including a runner-up finish and two third-place finishes. He made 22 cuts in 28 tournaments in a stark turnaround from his previous two seasons during which he finished in 112th in 2019 and 313th in the 2020-21 season.
He made three bogeys and just one birdie on his front nine, and he had two birdies on his homeward nine before finishing with a bogey on 18. But, his job was done some time ago when he had reached the threshold of points scored during the season at which point promotion the PGA Tour was all but guaranteed.
So the 33-year-old from Pretoria who lives in Kingwood, Texas, was able to just cruise home on Sunday, and enjoy the ceremony of receiving his card with his wife and son.
